Tag: TKActions V6

I recently finished watching Sean Bagshaw’s new video course, “Sean’s Favorite Photoshop Techniques,” and have written a review below. For those familiar with Sean’s videos, it will come as no surprise that the series is very good. I am pleased to be able offer this course on my Panels & Videos page, and Sean says I can give readers a 15% discount code. Here it is: Bagshaw15. Enter that code in the PROMO CODE field in the shopping cart to save 15% when purchasing this item. (NOTE: If you are a previous customer of mine, I likely sent you an email with an even better discount on Tuesday or Wednesday, January 29 or 30. If you missed it, please check your junk/spam folder. Contact me if you can’t find it. Include the email address you used for your previous purchase, and I’ll privately email you the other code.) Sample videos can be viewed here. The review below will give you an idea of what to expect from the new series.

Sean Bagshaw has put together another excellent video course focused on the Photoshop workflow. “Sean’s Favorite Photoshop Techniques” covers a lot of territory, but instead of concentrating on developing just one image, like in his other recent courses, this one takes a closer look at several different methods that can be used on almost any image. He explores these techniques in a way that helps you understand how he’s able to achieve the rich color and perfect balance that characterizes his images.

Three main categories of techniques that are discussed and demonstrated:

Color Palette

Exposure and Tonal Balance

Light Sculpting

These are broken down into chapters that show multiple ways to achieve a specific image developing goal, like color-grading, tonal balance, and midtone boost, to name a few. And while this isn’t a sequential image developing workflow course, my sense is that the chapters are more or less arranged in a start-to-finish order. The early chapters will generally work best near the start of the Photoshop workflow and the later chapters will be more relevant near the end of it.

While I consider myself pretty adept at Photoshop, I once again realized I still have a lot to learn after watching all these videos. For example, color-grading with hue, saturation, and lightness isn’t really part of my workflow, but I can now see the advantage of using it near the start, maybe even in LR/ACR as Sean demonstrates, to set the overall color foundation for the image. I’m also thinking of trying to do more with split toning after watching the videos to see what it might add to my landscapes that have a wider perspective.

Not surprisingly, luminosity masks are a powerful tool in Sean’s techniques arsenal, and he makes good use of them in the Exposure and Tonal Balancing chapters. Luminosity masks aren’t just for exposure blending, and Sean shows the many ways they integrate into the workflow to create the right balance of light and contrast throughout the scene. And, while this video series isn’t a course on how to use the TKActions V6 panel (Sean also shows the menu commands called by the panel’s scripts), it’s obvious watching Sean work that the panel can play an important role in the creative process by short-cutting many Photoshop functions and by providing a rapid method to create, modify, and deploy the necessary luminosity masks. Sean is very familiar with the panel, uses some of its advanced features in the videos, and shows how it improves workflow efficiency.

The Light Sculpting section is probably my favorite part of the course. It starts off showing basic and advanced burning and dodging and how it can be used to reveal the contours of light in the scene. The “Digital Light Painting” chapter, however, takes these concepts to an entirely new level. The image Sean had been using to demonstrate different burning and dodging techniques is totally transformed into a completely new image with this light-painting process. Sean describes it as “re-imagining the light,” and it is indeed this and much more. It’s also a challenge, I think, to look deep into your images and find a personal light in them that only you, as the individual photographer who took the picture, can see. Sean shows what’s possible when you engage in this re-imagining exercise and does a great job explaining how to do it. It’s up to you to decide how far you want to take it.

The last two chapters in the Light Sculpting section cover vignettes and spotlights, and this also had a lot of new info for me. Sean shows how this process can be much more than just making the edges of the image darker or the interior lighter. Many of the techniques discussed in the previous chapters are put to use. Color balance, brightness, contrast, clarity, and various adjustment layers are all employed to enhance the light in order to focus the viewer’s eye. The last section of the vignette/spotlight section is essentially another digital light painting demonstration. It’s nice bonus to get to see how this magic works again, and the results are equally impressive the second time through.

Don’t expect to absorb everything in these videos all at once. Sean’s teaching style has the perfect pace, but these videos are information-dense. They cover a lot of ground, and you’ll likely want to work along with him on the practice images for some of the less familiar concepts. I can almost guarantee you’ll learn several new and very useful techniques while watching this course and practicing along with Sean. Hopefully you will also discover how to find some new light in your images as well. By the end, you should be better equipped to express the art and beauty you find in photography.

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I recently acquired a new Epson SureColor P800 printer. My old printer had started to leak from the print head. I primarily use Moab Lasal paper with a luster finish, so I went to the Moab website to find a color profile for the new printer/paper combination, and was pleased to find that one existed. I loaded it on my computer and did a test print. The color match to my monitor looked great. There was a problem, however. The print seemed dark and heavy overall because the shadows were blocked when viewed in ambient room light. Looking at the print under a brighter light source, I could still see the shadow separation that was apparent on my monitor, so it hadn’t been lost entirely. It just wasn’t printing well. I don’t normally view my prints under strong “gallery” lighting and want them to look good even in ordinary room light. So based on this initial test, I would need to find a consistent way to lighten them. The fact that there was NO color shift in the print meant that the profile I installed was doing a decent job in that important category. Brightness was the only thing that required adjustment.

I experimented with a few more prints that had Curves and Levels adjustments added to the sharpened image, but these ended up with obvious shifts in contrast and color saturation. I then decided to see if a luminosity mask could help. Since the image’s dark values were blocked, a Darks-series mask would be a good place to start. But how to use it? Curves and Levels adjustments hadn’t worked, so I needed an alternative for that also. In the end, I decided to still use an adjustment layer, but instead of adjusting the properties for the layer, I simply changed the layer’s blend mode to Screen, which lightens the image, except for pixels that are completely black.

Bingo! This approach worked well and next print looked much better. Here’s the steps I used:

Create a Darks-1 luminosity mask of the unsharpened image. (See NOTE at the end of this blog for methods to make a Darks-1 mask.)

Sharpen the image using the normal sharpening method.

Create a Levels (or Curves) adjustment layer at the top of the layer stack above the sharpening layer(s).

Set the adjustment layer’s blend mode to Screen.

Apply the Darks-1 luminosity mask created in Step 1 as a layer mask to the adjustment layer.

Lower the layer’s opacity to between 25 and 50 percent.

The image below shows the final layer stack with the print adjustment layer on top.

Not hard at all, and my image now matched my monitor in color, contrast, saturation, and brightness. In retrospect, this is sort of an obvious solution. The darks were blocked and Darks-series masks specifically targets these dark values. Screen blend mode is also a somewhat obvious choice since it provides an automatic, consistent lightening adjustment that keeps 100% black pixels 100% black, so there is a bit of a black anchor for the blackest blacks in the image. Screen blend mode also seems to lighten with less contrast and/or saturation shift that sometimes accompany adjustments to Curves and Levels using the Properties panel. So the overall effect was to create an automatic lightening effect restricted to just the dark, blocked tones in the image.

Subsequent tests showed that the optimal opacity of the added adjustment layer ranged from zero to 50 percent. It turns out that the value is easy to predict based on image’s histogram.

For images with prominent areas that are very dark or completely black, an opacity setting of 50% is needed.

For images where there is plenty of dark colors, but still excellent detail in these dark colors, an opacity of 25% works well. This histogram shape is common with many of my images, so an opacity setting of 25% is frequently my starting point when making test prints.

For images that are composed almost entirely of midtones and/or highlights with very few dark values, no adjustment is needed. There are essentially no dark values that are getting blocked in this situation, so the adjustment isn’t necessary.

While a custom profile might have been an alternative to consider, the fact that the colors were matching so well with the paper manufacturer’s profile meant that I wanted to continue to use it if I could. So far I’ve made prints of about a dozen different images using this method, and opacity settings of either 50% or 25%, depending on the histogram, have worked every time.

I’m not sure how widespread this problem might be. A member of the local camera club mentioned he had the same issue, so I’m sure I’m not the only one. It’s certainly an easy fix to try if your prints are looking too dark.

NOTE: A Darks-1 mask can be made and applied with either the TKActions V6 RapidMask2 module or the free Basic V6 panel. You can also make a Darks-1 layer mask using Photoshop’s Image > Apply Image… menu command using the settings shown below. Be sure to check the “Invert” checkbox in the dialog window to get a Darks-1 mask instead of a Lights-1 mask.

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There are a lot of features packed into the TKActions V6 panel. Not only does it quickly generate luminosity masks, but it also allows them to be modified and output in a variety of ways. In addition, the V6 panel also provides access to most of the common Photoshop functions photographers use to develop their images. Curves and Levels are a natural part of many techniques, so different V6 modules contain buttons and menu items to appropriately access these adjustments. In this new Quick Tip video, Sean Bagshaw reviews the locations of the Curves and Levels options in the V6 panel and demonstrates how each can be used.

There are three distinct Curves and Levels adjustments found in the V6 panel:

In the “Layer Mask” menu of the Combo/Cx modules. Buttons in this menu are designated by the familiar Photoshop icons for these layers. They create the corresponding adjustment layer with a white “reveal all” layer mask if there is no active selection. If there is an active selection, the selection is incorporated into the the layer mask as the adjustment layer is created. These buttons work similarly to the items in the “Layer Mask” menu accessed at the bottom of the Layers panel. However, there is one advantage to using the Combo/Cx buttons and that is that they automatically open the Properties panel after the adjustment layer is generated. Most adjustment layers do nothing until you adjust the layer’s properties. Anticipating this, the panel opens the Properties panel so users can go directly to making their adjustment after creating the layer.

In the MODIFY section of the RapidMask2 module. The RapidMask2 module is all about making pixel-based masks, like luminosity masks. While the panel can make dozens of different calculated masks as a starting point (Lights, Darks, Midtones, and Zones), there are actually an infinite number of possible masks for any pixel-based value. The MODIFY section allows you to fine-tune any mask to better match the pixels in the image, and Curves and Levels adjustments fit nicely as one of the modification options. The MODIFY buttons open a separate window where users can watch the mask change in real time as the adjustment is made. There is also a MODIFY section in Layer Mask Mode, and Sean’s video demonstrates how Curves and Levels work in this section as well.

In the “Layer” button menu in the OUTPUT section of the RapidMask2 module. This is the final location for Curves and Levels in the V6 panel. “Layer” menu items automatically apply the current Rapid Mask that has been created by the module to the adjustment layer that’s created. It’s a one-step process to go from mask creation to being able to actually use the mask to adjust the image. Besides the efficiency of using this output process to deploy masks, there are two additional advantages. The first is that no intermediate 8-bit selections are used. It’s a direct channel mask to layer mask process, which is 16-bit to 16-bit. The quality of the layer mask is therefore identical to that of the original Rapid Mask. The second advantage of this output method is that the Properties panel for the new adjustment layer once again automatically pops open. Adjustment layers need an adjustment by the user, and this output method lets you get right to it.

Sean, as usual, does a great job reviewing and demonstrating these different options. I’m sure you’ll feel more confident using them after watching this video.

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I’ve been testing the TKActions V6 panel with the newly released Photoshop CC 2019 on both Mac and Windows computers and everything seems to be working properly. There aren’t any major issues associated with the panel as far as I can tell. However, with every new version of Photoshop some users experience problems and there are almost always new bugs in Photoshop itself. These issues are usually NOT due to the V6 panel, though they can affect its performance. I’ll review a couple of situations below that have been brought to my attention.

Lightroom-to-Photoshop issue (Windows-only)

As some of you might be aware, Photoshop CC 2019 has a major bug. When you open Photoshop by opening an image directly from Lightroom, many functions are grayed-out on the Photoshop menus. This problem appears to be a Windows-only bug. This Photoshop thread discusses it and has an official Adobe recommended workaround. Basically, Windows users need to open Photoshop CC BEFORE opening images from Lightroom. Doing this makes all the functions in the Photoshop menus appropriately available. The V6 panel runs some of these standard Photoshop functions as part of the steps programmed into the panel’s actions. So launching Photoshop CC first insures that these functions are available and can be accessed by the panel.

UPDATE: I have been informed that this problem can also occur when opening an image from Bridge or ACR. So, again, if you’re on Windows and have this problem, it’s important to make sure Photoshop CC is open BEFORE opening images from Lightroom, Bridge, or Adobe Camera Raw. As I mention in the comments below, here’s a test to see if your panel is working properly:

Reboot your computer.

Open Photoshop CC directly from its launch icon on your computer. Do NOT open PS CC by opening an image from Lightroom, Bridge, or ACR. Have Photoshop CC open BEFORE opening any image.

Now open an image (by whichever method you prefer).

Try using the panel.

The panel should now work normally and will demonstrate that this an Adobe bug and not an issue with the panel itself.

Modules missing from workspace

When you install a new version of Photoshop CC, the workspace preferences from the old version usually transfer to the new version including the V6 modules you had open and their placement in your workspace. Unfortunately, sometimes this does not happen and it will look like the V6 modules disappeared and need to be reinstalled. However, re-installation is seldom necessary. Instead, first click the Workspace menu in the upper right corner of Photoshop (red box below) and see if your last workspace is listed there. If it is, click it and it might restore your last workspace including the V6 modules.

If that doesn’t work, go to the Window > Extensions menu in Photoshop and click each of the modules you want to open.

You might need to reconfigure the modules into your preferred arrangement using the information in Sean Bagshaw’s video.

If there are no modules listed under Windows > Extensions, you can check your installation by looking for the installation folders in the “extensions” folder in the following path:

This installation path has worked since Photoshop CC 2014 and is correct for Photoshop CC 2019 also. If your V6 modules were installed correctly in CC 2018, then it’s quite likely they’re properly installed in CC 2019 as well, but it’s always a good idea to check. The installation folders have the following names:

com.tk.batchvsix
com.tk.combovsix
com.tk.cxvsix
com.tk.rmtwovsix

If you don’t see these folders in the “extensions” folder, double-check that you have the correct installation path to the “extensions” folder. It’s unusual that the folders would be removed simply by installing the new version of Photoshop CC. If you’re sure the installation folders are missing, contact me and I’ll reactivate your download link.

If you see the installation folders in your “extensions” folder, then your V6 panel is properly installed and will show up in the Window > Extension menu of Photoshop CC if your application is working properly. If you don’t see the modules listed in the Windows > Extensions menu, reboot your computer and check again. That’s always something worth doing when things aren’t working properly.

Another thing to check if the modules don’t show up under Window > Extensions in Photoshop is the preferences. Go to the Preferences > Plug-ins menu and make sure that “Load Extensions Panels” checkbox is checked. This has been a problem for a couple of people. The checkbox needs to be checked in order for panels like TKActions V6 to show up in the Window > Extensions menu.

Corrupted preferences

While the two problems listed above have occurred for a few users, there are also occasionally really weird problems that only happen for one user and can’t be replicated. This is often a sign of corrupted Photoshop preferences files and the only solution is to reset them. This Adobe video shows how to do that. But feel free to check with me first to make sure that I’ve not seen the problem before and have a different recommendation.

In a few cases where the above solutions don’t work, uninstalling and reinstalling PS CC is necessary, but that’s rare. Always try rebooting the computer before reinstalling Photoshop as some odd problems can occasionally be solved with a reboot.

Please contact me if you notice other problems with the V6 panel and Photoshop CC 2019. My sense is that CC 2019 is quite buggy yet, so there may be other issues yet to be discovered. If I can replicate the problem, I’m usually able to fix it or recommend a workaround.

If I hear of other problems with Photoshop that are regularly affecting the panel, I’ll post additional information on this blog. At this time, though, the V6 panel works fine in Photoshop CC 2019 and is available to make luminosity masks when you need them.

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Sean Bagshaw’s YouTube channel has another great workflow video using the TKActions V6 panel. This one covers developing the Milky Way in a night sky image. He starts in Light Room with what appears to be a somewhat unremarkable image of the Milky Way, but with a few quick adjustments uncovers the potential hiding in the dark tones. I liked the Light Room techniques for adjusting the colors in the RAW file and the way the blue fringe around the stars can be removed.

The really good stuff happens when the image is opened in Photoshop as a smart object. Sean selects the Blue channel mask to better target the Milky Way (compared with a standard luminosity mask). He then uses classic luminosity painting to create more dramatic contrast. This involves loading Light and Dark masks as selections and painting white and black through these selections to selectively change image brightness. It’s quick and easy since the selection guides the paint to where it’s needed.

For noise reduction, Sean uses the TKActions V6 panel to duplicate the smart object so the noise reduction can be done on a separate layer and later filtered into the image through a luminosity mask. Using the V6 to duplicate smart objects has the advantage of unlinking the duplicate smart object from the original smart object. This is important since Sean reopens the duplicate smart object in Adobe Camera Raw and is able to perform significant noise reduction on it without affecting the original smart object. If the original and duplicate smart objects had not been unlinked, both the original and the duplicate would have been affected the same by the noise reduction in ACR. Instead, by creating an unlinked smart object first, strong noise reduction can be applied to the duplicate smart object to the point of blurring the stars. A luminosity layer mask can then be applied that reveals the noise reduction in the dark areas of this layer while simultaneously preserving the sharp detail of the individual stars from the original conversion. It’s a bit hard to describe in words, but watching Sean do this in the video will make it crystal clear.

The final technique is to make the stars even sharper using the “Clarity” action in the V6 panel, again combined with a Blue channel luminosity mask as a layer mask. This is a subtle change but the type of one that makes the final image look its best.

The video is just over 21 minutes long, but it seems much shorter. Sean covers a lot of territory with a several really useful techniques facilitated by the V6 panel. The change is quite dramatic and shows what’s possible even when the original RAW file looks marginal. If you’re already doing Milky Way photography or thinking of trying it, this video will give you confidence that you can indeed create a stellar image.

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I recently completed an updated video (below) on using the V6 RapidMask2 module. This module is at the heart of the TKActions V6 panel and was designed to be a mask-making juggernaut. Its evolution can be traced to the original luminosity mask concepts, but it’s moved far beyond the confines of those earlier techniques. One compact module can now make any pixel-based mask with just a few mouse clicks. Color, channel, saturation, and vibrance masks are as easily generated with RapidMask2 as standard luminosity masks. The built-in Rapid Mask engine quickly turns pixel values into masks, and these masks are viewed on-screen at near real-time speeds so it’s easy to experiment with different masks and find the best one.

It’s worth noting that all RapidMask2 masks are created using calculations, which provide the smoothest masks of any method to generate them. I experimented with a Curves adjustment layer for generating masks and even created a prototype panel using this method. However, I abandoned Curves when I saw the obvious tonal separation for tones with low pixel density in the image histogram. Calculated masks in RapidMask2 automatically adjust to match pixel density in selected tones by varying mask brightness. This isn’t possible when a static Curves adjustment creates the mask. So I’ve stuck with calculations for making masks in RapidMask2 and am confident it produces the best possible masks.

These calculations also completely avoid 8-bit selections as masks are generated and deployed. While I previously described the calculations process for making 16-bit masks and built it into the Rapid Mask engine, the reality is that calculations always make masks that match the bit depth of the image. Even 32-bit masks are possible with Rapidmask2 if you’re using the 32-bit mode in Photoshop.

The video below walks you through the workflow for using RapidMask2 to create and use pixel-based masks. It’s basically a four-step process:

Choose a data source (luminance/color/saturation/etc) in the SOURCE section.

Click different masks in the MASK section to find the best one.

Optionally adjust the mask using the MODIFY section.

Deploy the mask using the OUTPUT section.

This video will show you that it’s actually quite easy to make and use pixel-based masks once you have a panel that does most of the work.

More information on using RapidMask2 and the other V6 modules can be found in Sean Bagshaw’s V6 Video Guide series on the Panels & Videos page.

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The first article in this monochrome series dealt with using the TKActions V6 panel to convert color images to black-and-white. This second article looks at another important aspect of monochrome images: toning. Proper toning can enhance the mood of the image. Warm-tones, like sepia, impart a vintage look, while cooler tones communicate a more modern feel. There are a variety of different ways Photoshop can be used for toning. The Solid Color and Hue/Saturation adjustment layers when combined with luminosity masks are two of my favorite methods. The video at the bottom demonstrates both techniques.

Toning Theory

Historically, toning in the darkroom was a secondary development process. After the initial development to reveal the latent image on the exposed paper, the print was immersed in another solution that would chemically react with the silver in the print to produce the toning color. The areas of the image that had more silver (the dark areas) would react more strongly with the toner. Areas with less silver (the light areas) reacted less. This is an important distinction. The entire print did NOT receive equal amounts of toning. Dark areas received more and light areas received less. Visually, this meant that light areas of the image would still retain much of their original whiteness and didn’t change color dramatically in the toner. Very dark grays and pure black toned the most, but a dark shade of any color is hard to distinguish from black, so the color change wasn’t necessarily all that visible in very dark gray and black tones of the image either. However, as the grays in the image got a little lighter and on into the midtones, the toning color became much more obvious in the print. Grays in this range showed a definite color change, but still in proportion to the amount of silver in the print. A Zone 4 gray, for example, would show more intense color than a Zone 6 gray, and this was important to maintaining the tonal separation that created the image in the first place.

This concept of applying toning to the silver-rich areas of a monochrome image (the dark areas) is where luminosity masks really come in handy. The Darks-series masks do exactly this. They select dark tones in the image in proportion to how dark the tone is. The darker the tone, the more it is selected. Using Darks-series masks as part of the digital toning process simulates what happens chemically in the darkroom. However, I’ve also found Midtones-sereies masks quite useful for digital toning. Since the midtones are often where toning is most obvious in chemically-toned prints, using them in digital toning also makes sense, and the results often look good. Which mask works best depends on the image. It’s helpful to try several different luminosity masks to find the best one. One more corollary to all this is that the best monochrome images for toning generally have some good gray midtones. Images with strong contrast where most tones approach black and white won’t show the toning color as well as images that have a lot of gray midtone values.

Toning vs. Tinting

As described above, toning was a chemical process that was strongest in the silver-rich parts of monochrome images. The effect is generally most obvious in the dark and midtone grays. The whites are largely unaffected due to their lack of precipitated silver. Tinting, on the other hand, can be thought of as a staining process that affects the entire image, not specific tones. With tinting, it’s the print substrate (the paper or emulsion) that is experiencing the color change. The midtone grays will still exhibit the color change, but so will the image’s whites. Both toning and tinting are ways to add color to the monochrome image, and in the digital darkroom, it’s possible to specifically target light tones as well as the darks and midtones. So in the digital realm, the distinction between toning and tinting is a bit less clear as it was in the traditional darkroom. One distinguishing characteristic is whether the color is applied uniformly across the image (tinting) or whether it’s restricted to specific tones (toning). The Photo Filter adjustment layer, for example, tends to be more of a tinting technique since it’s applied evenly across most tones in the image. For toning, Solid Color and Hue/Saturation adjustments tend to work best. The left image below shows toning accomplished with a Hue/Sat adjustment layer and a luminosity mask. The image on the right is a tinted image made with a Photo Filter adjustment layer.

Additionally, toning should be proportional within the selected tones where it is applied. The more selected tones should exhibit the most color change which then tapers off in tones that are less selected. Again, this is where luminosity masks really shine as they are able to isolate the color to specific tones in the image and in proportion to how much each tone is selected.

“Color” Blend Mode

Using the “Color” blending mode for the adjustment layer that adds the toning color is an additional technique that makes digital toning work well. It’s actually essential when using a Solid Color adjustment layer for toning, where it makes for a very nice toning effect when combined with a luminosity mask. It also provides a bit of a contrast boost when a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer is used for toning, so it’s definitely worth trying.

Summary: Toning is a way to add color and mood to black and white images. Solid Color and Hue/Saturation adjustment layers in combination with luminosity masks are a great way to digitally tone photographs that mimic the traditional darkroom process.

The video below demonstrates two good methods for using luminosity masks and adjustment layers to make digital toning easy and natural-looking with plenty of options for customizing the effect. If you want to practice along with the video, jpeg versions of images can be downloaded here.

NOTE: With the release of CC 2019 in October 2018, there is a blending mode bug on Windows computers. It can cause the wrong toning colors to appear and can also cause PS to crash. The workaround to fix this is to go to Preferences > Performance and make sure there is a check mark in the checkbox for “Legacy Compositing.” This post has more information about this bug and its current status.